


How To Train Your Anthropomorphic Dragon

by Lilith_Breen



Series: The Anthro Series [1]
Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), Hiccup Series - All Media Types, Hiccup Series - Cressida Cowell, How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Anthro Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), Anthropology, Anthropomorphic, Bi-Curiosity, Bisexual Astrid Hofferson, Bisexual Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, But this is going to be weird, Crack-ish?, F/F, F/M, Half-Human, I don't know how you think, I refuse to do that, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Bad At Titles, M/M, Minor Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson, No Underage Sex, POV Third Person, Shapeshifting, Slow Burn, Teenage Dorks, Teenage Drama, Teenage Rebellion, The author is just self indulgent, This Is Not Going To Go The Way You Think, a lot of bi characters ok, absolutely not, basically the author has a lot of feelings about HTTYD3 and they need to write it out, i think, sometimes it changes to first person, um
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-03 19:26:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17883779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilith_Breen/pseuds/Lilith_Breen
Summary: This is Berk. It’s 12 days North of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death, it’s located solidly on the meridian of Misery. In a word? Sturdy. And it’s been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitos. We have…dragons.Now not just any dragons, these dragons can shift into human-like forms with scales littering their bodies and their respective species wings and tails. Why the Gods decided to give giant flame breathing lizards the ability to have hands and really hot bodies is beside me.My name is Hiccup, I'm 15 years old, son of the great Stoick the Vast. One day, I shot down the most elusive Dragon of all, and that is when everything changed.-A/N Really this is just a rewrite of HTTYD but with Anthro dragons and a touch of gayness. Before the angry comments start, I'm literally bisexual let me write bi/gay characters for my deprived, immoral, self-indulging, bastard self okay.





	1. This Is Berk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just watched HTTYD3 twice and I cried for a total of 40 minutes both times. I've tweeted non-stop about it 28 times, and every time I think about HTTYD in any capacity my heart clenches and I tear up. Writing my problems away is obviously the only solution. The first few chapters might be a bit boring since they're basically rewrites of HTTYD but with added bonuses thrown in before we get to the good shit.

_This is Berk. It’s 12 days North of hopeless and a few degrees south of freezing to death, it’s located solidly on the meridian of Misery. In a word? Sturdy. And it’s been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitos. We have…_

“Dragons,” A brown haired boy breathed, slamming the door shut as a Monstrous Nightmare spat molten flames at his house. Wouldn’t be the first, nor probably the last. The fire creeped out the edges of the doorway, and he could feel the wood heating up at his back and the sharp warmth near his hands. He bounced at the tips of his toes, feeling a little excited and scared for what he was planning to do.

_Most people would leave. Not us. We’re Vikings. We have stubbornness issues._

The boy ran out of his burning house, a grin on his face that he failed to keep down. He darted under a log, dodging the yelling Vikings and angry dragons as best as his lanky body could.

_My name’s Hiccup. Great name, I know. But it’s not the worst. Parents believe a hideous name will frighten off gnomes and trolls. Like our charming Viking demeanour wouldn’t do that._

Hiccup didn’t do a particularly good job at dodging as he was shoved by Vikings yelling “GET DOWN”, till eventually a Gronkle blast near his turned back threw him to the ground. A large burly Viking fell on top of him, brandishing his axe with a hardy roar that turned into a lopsided grin.

“Mornin!” Was all the Viking said before he dashed off again, probably to bash some other dragon in the head.

The fire from the burning houses licked at Hiccups body as he ran up the stairs to his desired destination. On the way there, as per usual, there were indignant Vikings yelling at him to “Get back inside!” in their hardy accents, asking him what he was doing there. What was he doing there? He’s a Viking! Of course he’s got to be out there on the battlefield helping his village take down dragons! No one seemed to really understand that so Hiccup eventually gave up telling them that, resulting in his quiet dash up the stairs. He yelped as a Monstrous Nightmare spat flames in a straight line, cutting his path. Hiccup most likely would’ve fallen into the flames if the nape of his neck hadn’t been immediately grabbed by a familiar, mildly unwelcomed but not unappreciated, strong grip.

“Hiccup?!” The colossal sized Viking exclaimed, “What is he doing out- I- get-“ He seemed to have trouble comprehending his words through the indignation and aggravated concern. It took him a second but he finally settled for asking Hiccup, “What are you doing out?” before shoving the young teen aside, not even waiting for an answer, “Get inside!”.

-

_That’s Stoick the Vast. Chief of the tribe. They say that when he was a baby he popped a dragon’s head clean off of its shoulders. Do I believe it?_

Stoick stared out at the flaming houses, his fighting tribe, and the thieving, murdering pests that continue to hinder his tribe. A flying Nadder caught his attention, acting quickly the Chief grabbed a cart and threw it at the Nadder with his bare hands. Only a grunt indicated a slight bother at throwing an entire wooden cart into the air. The Nadder whined in pain, flying off as he turned around unbothered.

_Yes I do._

“What have we got?” The Chief of Berk barked to his men.

A Viking bowed quickly before raising his head to answer, “Gronkles. Nadders. Zipplebacks. Oh, and Hoark saw a Monstrous Nightmare.”

The man was cut off from any further speech as an explosion went off nearby, throwing him to the ground as he threw his shield up as protection, Stoick remained completely unphased brushing off a bit of burning debris from his shoulder plate.

“Any Night Furies?” He asked, staring around at the smoking sky, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

“None so far.”

“Good.”

-

Hiccup ran through the hoard of Vikings raising the flame torches to the sky, thankful to be away from Stoick for this brief reprieve. The torches lit up the night sky, showing dozens upon dozens of dragons. Some of them were even in their half human form, tackling the Vikings from the backs of their fellow dragons and throwing whatever they could grab from swoop downs.

_Did I mention the dragons weren’t just…dragons? They could shift into this anthropomorphic form, granting them human like limbs such as arms and legs, but letting them keep the wings, tail, and horns. There’s an old tale of Dragons and Vikings living side by side in peace, but I guess that’s just what it is. An old tale of myth and legend._

Panting in exertion, the lanky Viking ran past the village Blacksmith and to the kiln. The large man had a peg leg and only one arm, the other he frequently equips with various tools he might need at the time. Now it was a hammer to straighten out a severely dented sword. Hiccup felt his inner smith wince at the shape of the weapon, but after years of sorting out broken or ruined weapons/tools, he quickly eased into his usual routine of fanning the flames and fixing whatever needed fixing.

The older, and significantly larger, Viking snorted at the sight of Hiccup, “Nice of you to join the party! I thought you’d been carried off.” He emphasised with a wave of his hammer before he brought it down on the glowing red sword again.

Hiccup grinned back at the other, donning his usual brown apron, “Wha- Who me? Nah, come on! I’m way too muscular for their taste.” He grabbed a large mace, wider than his skinny body, lifting it to hang on the weapons wall, “They wouldn’t know what to do with all…this.” He gestured to himself, striking a bodybuilder pose, which did nothing to emphasise the non-existent muscles he was referring to.

“Well, they need toothpicks, don’t they?”, the Blacksmith said as he pulled and tugged at another weapon that probably needed fixing.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and ran over to the window, throwing it open to the crowd of Vikings that needed fixed weapons. They threw their dented metal onto the sill and gestured, impatient, for Hiccup to hurry up, looking back anxiously at the roaring of dragons. For such a small boy, Hiccup grabbed the heavy weapons with ease, only slightly hindered by their weight, trudging over to the red hot coals that he needed to throw the weapons over.

_The meathead with attitude and interchangeable hands is Gobber. I’ve been his apprentice ever since I was little. Well…littler._

 

Struggling to push down the large bellow, Hiccup grunted in exertion as it finally pushed down, blowing across the coals and fanning the heat higher.

-

“We move to the lower defences. We’ll counter-attack with the catapults.” Stoick ordered to the Vikings he stopped on their way down. A few Vikings carried sheep in their arms, trying to save as much of the flock as possible from the dragons greedy claws. As the group turned, a Monstrous Nightmare flew down and set another house on fire. They sped up their steps as the wooden house caved easily under the molten flames and started to partially collapse on the bridge.

_See? Old village. Lots and lots of new houses._

-

Another Viking, stared at a flaming house for a bit, before turning around to state rather the obvious.

“FIRE!” Well, more like bellow.

Hiccup paused in his work to stare eagerly out the window, his eyes following a certain group of teens that ran past his workstation.

“Alright let’s go!” he heard as they set their burden down to grab the buckets and fill them with water.

The first one to run with his bucket was a large, blonde teen, stumbling a little on his short legs.

_Oh and that’s Fishlegs…_

Another three ran forward, one a grizzly shorter male with black hair and skinny legs but a broader chest. The other two were quite obviously twins, fighting over one bucket, with long blonde hair. It was hard to tell if they were female or male just by looking at them, until you take into notice that the female had braided hair.

_Snotloud. The twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut. And…_

The last to come forward was a tough, blonde haired girl. With a narrowed look of determination, she threw the water towards the flaming house, turning around just as another ball of flames fell behind her.

_Astrid._

Hiccup’s hair was blown back as the heat from the flames generated a warm gust of air. He stared at the girl, and he felt his heart flutter ever so slightly from the impressive sight. His eyes, at first widened, fell half closed as he looked dazedly on at Astrid and her background of fire. The other teens eventually joined her in walking away from the wall of flames, wiping away the sweat and soot on their faces. He glanced around in mild dismay as they ran past him yet again to try and put out another flaming house.

_Oh their job is so much cooler._

Leaning out the window, Hiccup attempted to climb out and join the teens. Their jobs were full of action and looked to be so much more exciting than his, and if spending time with Astrid just happened to be a side effect than that was an even bigger plus. But before the twiggy boy could climb out the window to join his fellow age group, he was grabbed by the back of his shirt for what seemed to be the second time that morning. Groaning in aggravation, especially since it seemed that Gobber could really pick him up with such ease to the point where his feet couldn’t even touch the ground, Hiccup kicked his legs out and flapped his arms similar to that of a baby dragon.

“Oh, come on,” He pleaded with his mentor, “Let me out, please. I need to make my mark.” Hiccup gestured to Astrid- the other’s general direction, glaring as Gobber set him down.

“Uh, you’ve made plenty of marks.” Gobber grinned a little meanly before poking Hiccup in the chest with each word that next left his mouth, “All in the wrong places.”

Hiccup groaned again, resisting the urge to stomp his foot like a child that didn’t get his way. Which in essentiality was what he was, “Please, two minutes. I’ll kill a dragon. My life will get infinitely better. I might even get a date!”

Which of course he was referring to the blonde, completely Viking in all her kickass glory, Astrid. Gobber rolled his eyes again, counting on his fingers all the weapons Hiccup couldn’t use.

“You can’t lift a hammer. You can’t swing an axe,” He grabbed a bola, shaking it around to emphasise his point, “you can’t even throw one of these!”

And to almost further ram in his point, another Viking grabbed the bola straight out of Gobber’s hands, tossing it rather skilfully at an unsuspecting Gronkle. Roaring in pain, the dragon crashed to the ground, shifting between forms in an attempt to remove the bola, its chubby hands scrabbling at the rope and balls. Hiccup nodded in ascent but grinned as a familiar and much feared light came to his eyes.

“Okay fine, but this will throw it for me.” He gestured to the back corner of the shop where a weird, almost bizarre contraption, similar to a wheelbarrow, stood. Patting it almost like a proud mother would pat her baby proved to be a mistake though, as the device sprung into action and shot a bola that narrowly missed Gobber before smacking straight into another Viking’s face. The poor fella yelped in pain before fainting, most likely to wake up with a splitting headache later on.

The blacksmith nearly growled, gesturing wildly to the wooden contraption that had just spectacularly failed, “See, now this right here is what I’m talking about!”

Hiccup backed away stammering and shaking his head in confusion and indignation, “Th-th- Mild calibration issue…”

“Don’t-no- Hiccup. If you ever want to get out there to fight dragons, you need to stop all…” Gobber searched for a word but failed and settled for just gesturing to Hiccup in general, “this.”

Almost distraught, Hiccup looked down at his frail body, “But, you just pointed to all of me.”

“Yes! That’s it! Stop being all of you.”

“Ohhhhh…” Hiccup said in what could be taken as a threatening tone of voice.

“Ohhhhh, yes,” Gobber replied in a similar tone.

“You-You, sir, are playing a dangerous game. Keeping this much, raw…Vikingness contained. There will be consequences!” Hiccup indignantly exclaimed at the very unimpressed Gobber.

Think tiny kitten trying to threaten a huge military dog. That was basically the interaction that had just occurred.

“I’ll take my chances. Sword. Sharpen. Now.” Gobber ordered, tossing a sword into Hiccup’s reluctant arms.

The teen lobbed the blunted sword onto the grinding wheel as he glared at his work, drifting off into fantasy.

_One day I’ll get out there. Because killing a dragon…is everything around here._

-

A swarm of Nadders landed atop an empty house, a few chattered to each other in their anthropomorphic forms as they tore the walls apart and nipped at the sheep that scattered out of the house.

_A Nadder head is sure to get me at least noticed._

A bit down, a pack of Gronkles grabbed at the drying racks to pick at the fish hanging there. Some loading the fish in makeshift bags, while others in their full dragon form settled for carrying the fish in their mouths.

_Gronkles are tough. Taking down one of those would definitely get me a girlfriend._

Nearby, a man with huge wings and one right eye breathed gas into a chimney while another but with only a left eye had sparks flying out of his mouth, the sparks setting the gas that was spilling out of the holes in the house on fire, immediately causing the building to explode. The two leapt off the building, running side by side with wide toothy grins only to lock arms and merge into one dragon with two heads.

_A Zippleback? Exotic. Two heads, two bodies, twice the status._

The Zippleback flew past a catapult tower as a Viking shouted in alarm, “They found the sheep!”

Frustrated and almost at the end of his tether, Stoick ordered for them to concentrate their fire over to the lower bank.

“Fire!”

A boulder smashed into a group of Nadders that were corralling the sheep, causing them to yelp and growl in pain. But it was what was happening below that drew Stoick’s attention.

_And then there’s the Monstrous Nightmare. Only the best Vikings go after those. They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire._

Below the tower was set aflame, but unmoved, Stoick merely narrowed his eyes at the fires that threatened to topple him. From the spreading fire, a sleek male with large red wings clawed his way out, he was naked but for a piece of cloth somewhat modestly covering his genitalia. Scales crawled themselves from his shoulder blades up to his jawline and spread out around his slitted eyes. He tossed a fanged grin at the chief as he got further up to reveal that his entire body was in fact on fire, and he seemed to enjoy it more than be hurt by it. As he neared, the half-man morphed into a giant dragon with a long snout and sharp teeth. Snapping at the Chief, eager to bring his body back to wherever they brought their prey. Stoick was, however, unthreatened, only looking back to order his men to reload as he adjusted his grip on his hammer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, I hope you guys enjoyed. I love comments, I love Kudos's too but I love comments more. If you hated it, I'm so sorry but just please don't comment then because I am fragile and still emotionally damaged by HTTYD. I need so much emotional support please help this poor child
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	2. Touchdown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> asdfjdslkajf I can't stop writing about this because everytime I think of HTTYD3 my heart clenches and my stomach flips and the next thing I know I'm already 1000 words into another chapter. Odin help me I don't know when my HTTYD obsession will die out, but for the sake of the readers I hope it doesn't die out till I fully finish this story lol

**As he neared, the half-man morphed into a giant dragon with a long snout and sharp teeth. Snapping at the Chief, eager to bring his body back to wherever they brought their prey. Stoick was, however, unthreatened, only looking back to order his men to reload as he adjusted his grip on his hammer.**

Stoick swung his hammer into the dragon's snout, knocking from side to side before the Monstrous Nightmare could regain its bearings. The dragon unleashed a grunt of pain from each hit, shifting ever so slightly backwards. Finally, it had a moments pause to snap its long jaw at the Chief, but just before Stoick could retaliate a loud high pitched sound filled the air. Its eyes widened in alarm before it dashed off to the side, Stoick’s gaze following it for just a moment before he turned it up to the sky.

_But the ultimate prize is the dragon no one has ever seen. We call it the-_

“Night Fury! Get down!”

Hiccup looked up from his work as he heard the high pitched whine, his heart thumped from excitement and fear. The hoard of Vikings that were calling out the Night Fury ducked for cover as the already flaming catapult exploded in a burst of purple and blue that melted into a fiery red. A figure flew overhead past the blazing structure, its speed unparalleled by any other dragon and its body almost indistinguishable from the dark sky.

Yelling for his men to jump off, Stoick himself leapt off the collapsing catapult. He felt a strong sense of frustration well up in him yet again, he had thought- no, he had hoped that that accursed Night Fury wouldn’t turn up this time.

Flinching back from the explosion, Hiccup leaned out of the window, almost concerned for the Chief if he didn’t already know that that stubborn Viking would obviously survive. His eyes scanned the sky to no avail, trying desperately to spot the well-camouflaged body.

_This thing never steals food, never shows itself, and…_

What remained of the catapult was shot with another burst of almost-lightning, breaking down the already collapsing structure even further.

_Never misses._

Eyes narrowed in concentration, Hiccup felt a renewed sense of determination. He walked away from his post as his thoughts jumbled in his brain. If he could pull this off, his life would become so much better than the bore it was now.

_No one has ever killed a Night Fury. That’s why I’m going to be the first._

As he walked, Hiccup paused by Gobber who was trading his hammer hand for an axe. The burly man nodded to Hiccup in passing as he adjusted the axe, “Man the fort, Hiccup, they need me out there.”. But just before he fully left the building, he turned around and wagged a finger at Hiccup, “Stay.”, a pause, “Put.”, another pause as a fleeting thought of Hiccup would never listen anyways passed his mind, “There. You know what I mean.”. And with that Gobber gave a yell and turned around to enter the fray as another explosion went off behind him.

Stay put there, Hiccup snorted. Gobber was acting like Hiccup didn’t know what those words meant, but he was intelligent so of course, he knew what the blacksmith meant.

“Where are you going?” A Viking yelled as Hiccup ran pushed past the group with his wooden contraption.

“Yep, I know! Be right back!”

Just because he knew what the words meant, didn’t really particularly imply he’d actually listen to them.

-

A group of Nadders were corralling a few sheep together, debating how best to carry them in their chittering tones of voices. However, they were interrupted as Stoick threw a large fishing net over them, effectively holding them down from flight. The Nadders shrieked in surprise and unhappiness, shifting between forms to try and tug at the ropes. One unleashed a pillar of flame that tore a part of the net, allowing its head to come free. But just before it could blast the rest of the net, Stoick leapt upon the beast, holding its jaws shut with his bare hands and wrestling the Nadders head to the ground.

“Mind yourselves!” He grunted, “The devils still have some juice in them.”

-

Panting in exertion, Hiccup finally reached the edge of a cliff and tugged at his weird invention to get it to still. He set it up as fast as he possibly could and waited, large green eyes narrowed as he attempted to find the dragon that would grant him the status of village hero.

The coo of a bird in the distance made him twitch, but Hiccup returned back to his lookout, muttering to himself, “Come on. Give me something to shoot at, give me something to shoot at.”.

Just as he could feel the edges of hopelessness creep up on him, a familiar high pitched whine filled the air once more. Panic and determination welled up in his chest as Hiccup lined up the shot, shifting the axis side to side to try and get the dragon in his line of sight. At last, the creature revealed itself as another bolt of blue and purple lit up the catapult in front of him, the figure just barely showing itself in front of the blazing tower. With a strained grunt, Hiccup shot the bola and was thrown backwards from the force of his contraption. The bola flew through the air as the small boy scrambled to his feet, keeping his ears peeled for that hopeful sound.

THUD!

A screech echoed through the area as Hiccup felt a grin creep on his face. He did it! He did it, at last, he’d bring glory to himself, his family, his village.

-

_PAIN! Painpainpainpainpain! Falling! Flightless!_

Torvald* shrieked in pain as he felt the weights collide with his body and trap his wings against his sides. He was falling, falling fast. Shifting into his anthropomorphic form quickly, the young Night Fury grappled with his bindings, trying desperately to free his wings and arms. The ground was fast approaching and there was nothing he could do about it. All too soon he was crashing through branches, only just managing to shift back into his dragon form before they tore his soft Anthro skin apart. Everything went black just before he skidded to a stop, and then Torvald knew no more.

-

“Oh, I hit it! Yes, I hit it! Did anybody see that?” Hiccup yelled in victory, turning his back to the bola tossing invention.

Just as he was celebrating his victory of taking down the long-scorned Night Fury, a Monstrous Nightmare crawled it’s way up behind him. Turning around, Hiccup truly at that moment felt that Odin himself had cursed him. He stared into the beasts bright yellow eyes and he could almost feel his accepted death slithering up to him.

“Except for you.” He said, almost resigned to his fate.

Hiccup could’ve sworn the dragon was amused by his talk, but that was cut short as it drew its head back and growled. Time to run, he thought, turning around and screaming his way through the village with a rampaging Monstrous Nightmare behind him. It snapped at his back and Hiccup just knew the accursed bastard dragon was playing with him, it could’ve killed him 10 times over now but noooo apparently Hiccup was fun to chase around the village like some sheep.

-

Turning his eyes up to the heavens, Stoick questioned what had he done to deserve such a reckless, suicidal, stubborn twig of a boy. He turned from the Nadder he was tying up with concern and mild aggravation, expecting to see the boy being chased by a Gronkle or something less than the huge, red, very fast Monstrous Nightmare that was currently seconds away from gobbling up Hiccup. He groaned in exasperation and wondered how such a tiny boy could bring up so much trouble.

“DO NOT let them escape!” The chieftain yelled before running after Hiccup.

-

A blast of molten flame shot just past Hiccup and hit the wall, causing the teenager to yelp in alarm. He ran, and ran, and ran, dodging the flames as best as he could while letting out cries of alarm every now and then when the shot singed just a little too close for comfort. In hindsight, perhaps dodging behind a mostly wooden pillar wasn’t the best idea, but then again Hiccup never really had the best ideas. Flames burst around the sides of the pillar and Hiccup peered over his shoulder, trying to spot the hulking mass of dragon behind him.

He never saw the Monstrous Nightmare creeping on his other side, jaws open wide to swallow the boy whole. All he felt was a puff of heated air before Stoick tackled the giant beast with a mighty yell, barrel rolling to break his fall and face the dragon head on. Roaring in indignation at his prey being taken away from him, the creature tried to fire another blast of flames at the Chief, only for a tiny, mildly pathetic amount to exit his mouth. It coughed a little bit and peered up at Stoick with just a hint of fear in its eyes.

Stoick growled approaching the Monstrous Nightmare, “You’re all out.” Punching the Monstrous Nightmare around repeatedly until it flew away with a snarl.

_Oh and there’s one more thing you need to know._

He turned around to glare at the pillar, and in a moment of almost comedic timing, the pillar fell under Stoick’s gaze to reveal a rather sheepish looking Hiccup. He froze in place as, in a moment of not so comedic timing, the pillar turned out to be a flaming torch that almost fell on top of some poor Viking. It broke through a few layers of wooden bridge, rolling down the hill much to the dismay of the Vikings and sheep down below.

“Sorry…dad,” Hiccup muttered, looking away and wincing whenever the torch hit the ground.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon, showing its glowing face at last to illuminate the darkened sky. Dozens upon dozens of dragons flew away, the baaing of sheep and the flapping of wings were all one could hear as the group moved out. The raid was over, and the Vikings were obviously not the victors. Hiccup rubbed his arm, feeling a twinge of regret as he looked back to his quiet father. Stoick almost looked furious but then again he always looked that way so it wasn’t easy to tell.

“Okay,” He said, trying to placate his father, “but I hit a Night Fury.”

Hiccup didn’t get much else out as he was immediately grabbed by the back of the neck, third time that morning, and dragged off by Stoick.

“Ohh it’s not like the last few times, Dad. I mean I really actually hit it!” He desperately tried to tell his father who was having none of it, he dangled off Stoick’s hands like he was a newborn kitten that had gotten just a bit too far from its mother, “You guys were busy and I had a very clear shot. It went down, just off Raven Point. Let’s get a search party out there, before it-“

And at that point, Stoick had had enough, “STOP!” He dropped Hiccup and turned to face his son, “just- stop…”

The village had gone silent, looking on at this scene expectantly. Stoick was furious, this was the umpteenth time his unruly son had disobeyed his direct orders to stay inside. Hiccup was far from ready to face a dragon, the boy was positively tiny for a Viking and already had enough trouble at the forge let alone fighting fire breathing creatures.

“Every time you step outside, disaster follows. Can you not see that I have bigger problems?” He was almost ranting at this point, trying to get through to his son's thick skull, it was times like these that he could really see his wife in Hiccup, “Winter’s almost here and I have an entire village to feed!”

Glancing around, Hiccup realised that all eyes were on father and son, chief and heir. He knew he shouldn’t say this, he knew it was a bad idea, but he really couldn’t restrain his mouth sometimes.

“Between you and me, the village could do with a little less feeding, don’t ya think?”

A ripple went through the crowd as a few of the Vikings on the – ahem – larger side looked down at their stomachs, “This isn’t a joke, Hiccup!” Stoick raised his voice a little, completely exasperated, “Why can’t you follow the simplest orders?”

“I can’t stop myself. I see a dragon and I have to just…kill it, you know? It’s who I am, Dad.”

Stoick almost sighed, he had heard it before almost a million times, but he knew a warrior when he sees one and his boy…as much as it pained him to say so, his boy wasn’t one.

“You are many things, Hiccup.” He shook his head, “But a dragon killer is not one of them.”

A sting of pain went through Hiccup as he looked around to see nods of agreement from the village. He knew what they thought of him, heck he knew what his own father thought of him. But to have it publicised, well, it hurt. He didn’t feel like continuing the argument and turned away from Stoick, allowing Gobber to lead him away from the mess. Unfortunately, leading him away from the mess ended up with them passing right through the teenage fire brigade. They teased and made fun of him as he passed by, and Hiccup winced when he caught Astrid’s glare, purposely avoiding it.

“I really did hit one,” The stubborn teen muttered.

“Sure, Hiccup.”

“He never listens.”

“Well, it runs in the family,” Gobber grumbled back, recalling how the Hiccup had disobeyed his own orders to stay in the blacksmith shop.

“And-and when he does, it’s always with this...disappointed scowl. Like someone skimped on the meat in his sandwich,” Hiccup mocked, upset and embarrassed, “Excuse me, barmaid. I’m afraid you brought me the wrong offspring.” He mocked again, mimicking his father’s familiar accent and deep voice, “I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms. Extra guts and glory on the side. This here. This here’s a talking fishbone.”

“You’re thinking about this all wrong. It’s not so much what you look like. It’s what’s inside that he can’t stand.” Gobber said, gesturing to Hiccup in general in a rather pathetic attempt to comfort the boy. Let it be known that Viking’s weren’t the best at comforting others.

“Thank you, for summing that up.” Hiccup smiled sarcastically, turning to open the door.

“Look the point is, stop trying so hard to be something you’re not.”

Something he’s not? Something he’s not?! He’s the son of the great Stoick the Vast, one of the most famous chieftains their side of the isles. He’s a Viking and if he’s not a heroic dragon killer then…then what was he?

Hiccup sighed, he wouldn’t be able to get through Gobber’s thick skull, “I just want to be one of you guys.”

The old blacksmith felt a sense of fondness and pity creep up on him, Hiccup had always been a nice boy, polite, kind-hearted. But those were the sort of people that died on the battlefield. Gobber knew Stoick was just worried, hell the whole village was worried for the young Viking. He was lost, he didn’t know who he was and what he was meant to do, so he tries copying what he’s seen all the other teens do, ending up dragging disaster around with him by the beard. By Odin, he just hopes the boy doesn’t die from a Night Fury attack one day, what a tragedy that would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed that one, as always I love comments, Kudos are nice but comments are amazing. I'm really sorry if any of these chapters have grammar or weird tense errors, please just point them out if you spot them! My eyesight has been wavering in and out lately and since my brain is permanently on "think about how depressing and good the HTTYD3 ending is" mode, I'm not fully equipped to spot proper errors myself.
> 
> *Torvald (toothless's name) means The Rule of Thor in Norse names  
> His previous one was Toshiro due to a mixup with this stupid naming book I was scrawling through, if you spot any "Toshiro's" in the story just point them out to me please my eyesight isn't the best so I might be able to fix all the Toshiro's.
> 
> Social Media:  
> Twitter: twitter.com/KylesMoony  
> Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/blog/justyouraverageshittyblogger  
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> 
> Help support me:  
> Patreon: www.patreon.com/ThatGenericMoron  
> Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/thatgenericidiot
> 
> I do have art and writing commissions open, so feel free to check it out below: https://tinyurl.com/y754elbd


	3. The Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slightly late from my current daily upload schedule spree, but I've been having eye problems in and out so blegh. I'm thinking about lengthening the chapters since this is reaaaally slow, as in I've only written 15 minutes of the movie slow, but I'm not really sure lol, anyways on with the story!

**Hiccup was lost, he didn’t know who he was and what he was meant to do, so he tries copying what he’s seen all the other teens do, ending up dragging disaster around with him by the beard. By Odin, Gobber just hopes the boy doesn’t die from a Night Fury attack one day, what a tragedy that would be.**

Stoick grumbled under his breath the whole way to the meeting hall, his mind buzzing with thoughts of a counterattack onto the dragons and worry about his son. The rest of the village filtered in after him as he set down a large nautical map on the table. Glancing around to ensure he had the attention of his fellow Vikings, he started on again, talking about finding the nest of the dragons. For years, they had searched for the nest, hoping to destroy it so that the dragons may find another home and not come back to Berk. However, for the years that they have tried, the years that they have failed to find it equalled out. He took out his blade and sunk it into the middle of an uncharted corner of the map that swirled with painted sea monsters and dragons.

“One more search. Before the ice sets in.” He said decidedly, only for his words to be met with grumbling and a ripple of anxiety. Some hardy Viking warriors they were.

He heard a mutter near the back of the room, “Those ships never come back.”

“We’re Vikings,” The chieftain tried, trying to appeal to the usual sense of warrior stubbornness most of them had, “It’s an occupational hazard. Now, who’s with me?”

Looking around the room, he could see the hesitation and the lack of motivation most of the Vikings had. But they forgot one small tiny little thing, “Alright,” He almost smirked, “Those who stay will look after Hiccup.”

And immediately hands shot into the air, Viking’s volunteering left and right with murmurs of prep and packing filling the air.

“Aye, that’s more like it,” Stoick almost felt bad, using his son as kind-of-blackmail, but he needed his village to be ready to destroy the nest of the dragons.

The village quickly departed, chattering about the packing that needed to be done, leaving Gobber and Stoick alone in the hall. The chief approached his old friend, “Alright, I’ll pack my undies,” Gobber snorted, wiping the remnants of mead on his moustache.

“No, I need you to stay and train some new recruits.”

“Oh, perfect,” Gobber drawled sarcastically as Stoick sat beside him, “And while I’m busy, Hiccup can cover the stall. Molten steel, razor-sharp blades, lots of time to himself…what could possibly go wrong?”

Stoick felt the edges of despair and worry creep up on him again, he didn’t know what to do with the boy. Sometimes it truly seemed like Hiccup lived to disobey his orders.

“What am I going to do with him Gobber?”

“Put him in training with the others.”

“No I’m serious,” He snorted, Hiccup in an arena of dragons. The boy would be killed within seconds, and the last of his family would be gone.

“So am I.” Which earned a glare from Stoick that Gobber just waved off.

“He’d be killed before you let the first dragon out of its cage.”

“Oh,” Gobber wanted to accede to that, but he also knew that Hiccup needed a chance, “you don’t know that.”

“I do know that, actually.”

“No, you don’t.”

“No, actually I do.”

“No, you don’t!” He wanted to smack the other with his cup, stubbornness truly ran in the family.

“Listen,” Stoick raised himself from his seat, soft and almost sad, “You know what he’s like. From the time he could crawl he’s been…different. He doesn’t listen. He has the attention span of a sparrow. I take him fishing and he goes hunting for…for trolls!” The chief recalled that one fishing trip, he nearly got five heart attacks at once when he couldn’t find Hiccup near their boat.

Gobber turned around defensively, “Trolls exist! They steal your socks. But only the left ones. What’s with that?”

“When I was a boy-“

“Oh, here we go.”

“My father told me to bang my head against a rock and I did it. I thought it was crazy, but I didn’t question him. And you know what happened?”

“You got a headache,” Gobber rolled his eyes, fiddling with his iron tooth that somehow got lost in his cup.

“That rock split in two. It taught me what a Viking could do, Gobber. He could crush mountains, level forests, tame seas! Even as a boy, I knew what I was, what I had to become,” Stoick paused, sitting down once again, “Hiccup is not that boy.”

“You can’t stop him, Stoick. You can only prepare him. Look, I know it seems hopeless. But the truth is you won’t always be around to protect him. He’s going to get out there again. He’s probably out there now!” The other tried getting through to his friend, not truly knowing how well his words hit their mark.

-

Hiccup glared at the book in his hands, it had a small map of their island but littered with ‘X’s here and there. He had searched up and down, high and low, but a giant black dragon somehow still eluded him. Completely wrought in frustration, Hiccup scribbled all over the map and closed the book with a loud ‘WHAP’ that echoed through the mockingly quiet forest.

He groaned in that melodramatic way that most teenagers do, “The gods hate me. Some people lose their knife or their mug. No, not me. I manage to lose an entire dragon!”

Needing some outlet for his anger, Hiccup smacked at a low hanging branch in his way, only for the gods to once again spit in his face by having the branch immediately swing back and hit him right on the nose. Glaring up at the tree and ready to unleash some very un-childlike words, his eyes narrowed as he spotted that the ‘low-hanging’ branch was a torn off part of a tree trunk. His gaze drifted slowly down to where the tree fell and a gorged out path was made, a path that could’ve only been made by something large skidding across it. Hiccup’s heart thumped once again as he inched his way down to where all the destruction lead and as he peered over a mound of dirt, he couldn’t control the gasp of fear that escaped his lungs.

Ducking behind the mound again, Hiccup shut his eyes for a moment as all he could hear was the pounding of his heart. He peeked over again and saw a large black body with giant wings, trapped to its side by the bola that was shot this morning. Scrambling for the knife that was gifted to him by his father, Hiccup held it shakily in front of his body as he slowly approached the unmoving creature. Staring it down, he was surprised to see that the dragon still did not move from its place. The ropes tied its limbs securely to its body, preventing movement or flight.

“Oh-oh wow,” Hiccup mumbled in shock, “I did it. I did it. This fixes everything. Yes!” He struck a pose, planting his foot on the unmoving body of the Night Fury, “I have brought down this mighty beast!”

But just as he was celebrating his victory by placing a foot over the other's body, a grunt of pain escaped the Night Fury and he was pushed away. With a yelp of surprise, Hiccup fell back against a nearby boulder and stared at the other in alarm. He realised now that the Night Fury was, in fact, moving with pants of pain and discomfort coming out of its body. Hiccup approached again slowly with his knife in front of his body as his gaze drifted up from the ropes tying down the dragon, to its face, where he was met with a pair of bright green-yellow eyes. The Night Fury’s pupils were slitted, with fear or anger Hiccup had yet to register, but he refused to meet the other's eyes again as he turned back to the dragon with his knife.

The knife seemed small and puny compared to the dragon’s massive body and sharp claws. He glanced back again at the low rumble of the dragon and his eyes softened ever so slightly.

‘Every time you step outside disaster follows!’ But his father’s words echoed once again in his mind and Hiccup took a deep breath in preparation, narrowing his eyes in determination.

“I’m going to kill you, Dragon. I’m gonna cut out your heart and take it to my father. I’m a Viking.” He shut his eyes, trying to dismiss the fear he saw reflected in the dragon’s eyes, trying to ignore the emotions and intelligence he saw behind those slitted pupils, “I am a VIKING!” His scream was only answered with a resigned whine from the other as Hiccup inhaled and exhaled shakily, holding the dagger point down to plunge into the chest of the beast.

With another thump of his heart, Hiccup raised his dagger, but as he paused and opened his eyes to look at the Night Fury, he felt his resolve weakened. Shaking his head in denial, Hiccup raised the dagger higher and shut his eyes again, but he could not bring it down to deal the final blow. He melted, resting the dagger against his head, Hiccup groaned because he knew what he was about to do would go against every Viking tradition he knew of. For some reason or another, he couldn’t bring himself to harm this creature who he had seen his own soul reflected back onto him.

“I did this,” He muttered, only now realising how much harm he had brought upon this creature, backing away in horror and shame.

But, just before he could scuttle away, something tugged at his heart and soul. Something tugged him to a stop as he took a few steps away, Hiccup turned around staring at the ropes that bound the dragon whose eyes were still closed, awaiting its death.

-

Torvald's bright eyes snapped open at the sound of rope being cut and he could feel the tension being released from his bound limbs. The dragon took a glance at the young human boy who was looking around to ensure no one was watching them, he had been sure the human was going to kill him. The boy’s speech had been filled with anxiety and the need to belong amongst his kind, and those two feelings often drove many a human to kill. He was conflicted for a moment, this was the boy that shot him down, he could smell his scent on the ropes that bound him. However, the same human was now releasing him, sparing his life.

Grabbing his chance at freedom now that the ropes had been loosened substantially, Torvald shifted into his Anthro form to throw the young Viking against a boulder, almost choking the boy with his clawed hands. The human panted in shock and exertion as they stared into each other's eyes. Torvald hated to admit it but he could see much of himself in the other, but this other was the same one that had shot him down, injured him. Their eyes both widened as they continued to stare, and for just a little while, Torvald could feel his heart thump, not knowing that Hiccup had felt the same.

He couldn’t kill the boy, no, but he could give him a warning, “Do not _ever_ try that again,” Torvald hissed in human tongue, causing the other to jerk in his grip.

No dragon, even in their Anthro form, has ever given humans a reason to suspect that they could speak the human tongue. They chose to keep their knowledge from the world, settling into dragon speech while in their human-like forms. So to reveal this secret to another, even Torvald didn’t know why he did it.

With an almighty screech to emphasise his words, the young Night Fury shifted back into his dragon form and tried to fly away. Shrieking and growling with pain as he slammed into boulders and trees along his flight path. In his mind, all he could see were wide human eyes, brilliantly green in their curiosity and wonder. He remembered the frightened pants of the human, the sudden urge to coo and comfort that was beaten down for a scream of rage instead. He thought of the frail neck, trembling beneath his grip, and he thought of his eyes. The human's eyes whose soul reflected his own as they stared at one another. Both eyes bright, brilliant, wide, and knowing. 

-

The screams of the Night Fury still flowed through his ears and for a long while all Hiccup could hear were dragon roars and the beating of his own heart, echoing in unison. He grunted as he got to his feet, watching the silhouette of the dragon attempt to fly away once more as it disappeared. Then he turned around to go back home, promptly fainting onto the ground. His unconscious dreams were filled with the breaths and roars of the Night Fury that spared his life, and for some strange reason, he could feel himself soaring high in the sky with the winds gently caressing his face. He heard wing beats and the happy trills of some unknown creature, he felt happiness and a bond that formed. But it was just a dream, he thought to himself as he awakened, feeling strangely empty and lonesome.

When he did, eventually, make it back home, his father was sitting on his chair, poking at the flames that illuminated the room. Hiccup quietly tried to go up to his room but stopped at the sound of his name coming from his father. Oh no, Hiccup thought to himself, now we need to talk and it’s going to be really awkward.

“Dad. Uhh…” Hiccup started as his dad got up to face him, both of them taking a deep breath, “I, uh… I have to talk to you, Dad.”

“I need to speak with you too, son.” Stoick was pleasantly surprised that Hiccup wished to talk, for years since Hiccup’s mother had been taken, the two of them barely talked except for scolding’s, lectures, or the occasional ‘how do you do?’ as they passed by each other in various places.

“I’ve decided-“ Hiccup began, pleading to Odin and every other god and goddess that his father would, for once, listen to him.

“I think it’s time-“

“I don’t want to-“

“Fight dragons.” They finished together, pausing to stare at the other with surprise.

“What?” They said together once again before stumbling a bit on their words.

“You go first,” Stoick gestured to his son, wanting to hear him out somewhat.

“No-no, you go first.”

“Alright,” The father acceded, rubbing his hands together in concern for his only son, “You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning.” With that he put his hands on his hips, expecting a whoop of joy or a ‘finally’ from his teenage son, but was caught off guard when what he got instead was panic and a babble of words that he didn’t really want to listen to.

“Oh man,” Hiccup scrambled, his eyes widened in panic at the thought of killing a dragon after he just failed to do so, “I should’ve gone first. Uh, ‘cause I was thinking, you know we have a surplus of dragon-fighting Vikings, but do we have enough bread-making Vikings or small home repair Vikings,” He gestured as he said so, his words starting to stream and babble together before he was interrupted by his dad.

“You’ll need this,” Stoick grunted, putting his axe into Hiccups hands, which Hiccup tried to avoid taking much to his surprise, once again. His boy was really off tonight, and perhaps he had been a bit too harsh on him this morning, Stoick wondered with a flash of guilt.

Hiccup grunted as he caught the axe, “I don’t want to fight dragons,” He said trying to sound strong, but it came out shaky at best.

“Come on,” Stoick chuckled, “Yes, you do.”

“Rephrase. Dad, I can’t kill dragons.” It hurt to say but it was true, he couldn’t kill a Night Fury, the dragon that had been plaguing their village for ages, the dragon that would’ve gotten him a proper place in the village he called home. But his father wasn’t known for his listening skills, and Hiccup should’ve remembered that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As per usual, hope you guys enjoyed. Comments, kudos, yadayadayada.  
> *Torvald (toothless's name) means The Rule of Thor in Norse names  
> His previous one was Toshiro due to a mixup with this stupid naming book I was scrawling through, if you spot any "Toshiro's" in the story just point them out to me please my eyesight isn't the best so I might be able to fix all the Toshiro's.
> 
> Social Media:  
> Twitter: twitter.com/KylesMoony  
> Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/blog/justyouraverageshittyblogger  
> DeviantArt: https://genericmoron.deviantart.com/
> 
> Help support me:  
> Patreon: www.patreon.com/ThatGenericMoron  
> Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/thatgenericidiot
> 
> I do have art and writing commissions open, so feel free to check it out below: https://tinyurl.com/y754elbd


	4. The Cove

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whooowhee this was almost 4k words long, I'm thinking if you guys prefer this sort of longer chapter thing then I'll probably keep it like this instead. I went a bit further into Hiccup and Toothless' thoughts here though I feel iffy about skipping the training scenes and stuff. So if you guys like the skipping a few scenes in the movie writing style then tell me so I'll remember to keep it like this in the future.

**“Rephrase. Dad, I can’t kill dragons.” It hurt to say but it was true, he couldn’t kill a Night Fury, the dragon that had been plaguing their village for ages, the dragon that would’ve gotten him a proper place in the village he called home. But his father wasn’t known for his listening skills, and Hiccup should’ve remembered that.**

His dad had left, up and left for another attempt at finding the great nest of dragons after basically forcing Hiccup into a decision he did not want to even be a mile near. Of course, he had attended dragon training, a part of him wanted to see if maybe the Night Fury was just pre-kill jitters, and the other part was dragged off by Gobber by the nape of his neck. Hiccup tried desperately to ignore the thump of his heart, and the tug at something weird and funny in his stomach. It distracted him all throughout training as they were chased by a Gronkle.

In his complete defence, Gobber did not warn any of them that they were going to be immediately confronting a dragon, even Snotlout was thrown off by the prospect. ‘I believe in learning on the job.’ Hiccup snorted, perhaps that logic applied to normal jobs like blacksmithing, cooking, or other stuff, but he was almost 100% sure that that logic was not supposed to be applied to life-or-death jobs or lessons. It was humiliating, being teased and made fun of by the other teens and even worse when the Gronkle had cornered him. His only comfort was one of the nicer teens

After almost getting shot in the face and being chased off by Gobber and the rest of the dragon trainees, Hiccup paused at the edge of the forest, remembering something that the blacksmith-now-teacher had said.

_A dragon will always, always go for the kill._

“So why didn’t you…” Hiccup muttered, staring down at the broken bits of rope and bola on the grassy floor.

He didn’t mean to come back here, well, yes he did. But there was something that just kept drawing his mind back to that dragon, something about those eyes…he just couldn’t get it out of his head. The dragon was gone now though right? His heart told him wrong, and so Hiccup followed the weird pull he seemed to feel in his gut and came across a small opening between two massive rocks. Just peering through the opening revealed a cove, not particularly big but not particularly small either. A deep lake rested just in the middle of the cove, the whole area was kind of like a small bowl as rocks covered the perimeter. Basically cutting it off from being seen unless you went through this small entrance.

For once, his small size came in handy as Hiccup ducked under roots and walked through, marvelling at how beautiful the cove was as sunlight filtered in between the leaves of a tall tree at the top of one of the rocks.

He barely glanced around but Hiccup still felt ridiculous just being here, “Well, this was stupid,” He mumbled, not knowing why he felt disappointed.

Hiccup was just about to turn and walk away when his eyes caught the shimmer of a few black scales just scattered on the ground beside him. Picking one up, he stroked it softly, still feeling the warmth that surely came from the sunlight shining on it right? It was just a coincidence, Hiccup tried to convince himself as he could feel his heart give another thump.

The sudden instinct of just _knowing_ threw Hiccup back, right before a massive black shape shot upwards past him with a loud roar. The Night Fury seemed to not notice Hiccup, but he stared in wonder as the dragon tried to claw his way up the rocks before dropping down and gliding across the lake with a trill of frustration. Hiccup crouched down, ignoring the loud beating of his heart that echoed with the Night Fury’s roars and whines of anger as he tried to fly off once again only to tilt for no apparent reason to the side and fall down. The scholar in him gasped and Hiccup quickly grabbed his notebook out to sketch the basic shape of the dragon for later study. After one last attempt at flying off, the Night Fury blasted a patch of grass with his lightning bolt in anger, seemingly giving up for the night.

“Why don’t you just…fly away?” Hiccup raised an eyebrow at this dragons peculiar behaviour as he finished his sketch, only pausing once he got a clear view of the dragon's tail. A flash of guilt and another thump of his heart echoed in his chest as the young teen realised that he had grounded the Night Fury. He didn’t know why he felt guilty, this was a good thing yes? Now the dragon wouldn’t plague his village anymore and maybe his dad would loosen up a bit without the threat of an uncatchable dragon hanging over his shoulders. But, he did feel guilty, Hiccup realised with a start as he quickly erased the left side of the Night Fury’s tail fin.

The dragon snorted as he gave another attempt at flying out of the cove, veering once more to the side, against his will Hiccup now realised. He winced as the dragon crashed to the ground, a rumble of pain and frustration making his chest throb again. The Night Fury seemed to have spotted something in the waters as he limped towards the shore and glared down, shoving his head inside the lake to snap at some, what Hiccup assumed to be, fish. Hiccup melted against the rock, staring sadly at the dark creature that was once so strong but now was trapped in a bowl. Freedom taken away…but in getting lost in his thoughts, Hiccup's grip on his writing tool loosened and it clattered into the cove.

He gasped softly as the dragon raised its head and their eyes met once again, something in his chest eased and tightened at the same time. Hiccup tilted his head to the side in confusion, watching the dragon copy his movements. His heart rate sped up and for a moment Hiccup felt something spark between them, he scrambled away at the unfamiliar feeling and quickly returned back to the village. He never looked back, but if he did he would’ve seen the Night Fury shift into his Anthro form to place a clawed hand against his own chest, for the dragon had felt that same spark.

-

Hiccup slinked into the village eating hall, determined to ignore the chattering of the trainees and Gobber even as his hair was plastered to his face from water. The trainees immediately took up the opportunity to make fun of him when Gobber asked where Hiccup went wrong. Astrid’s comment stung the worst as he knew she wasn’t making fun of him as she glared in genuine hatred. It didn’t sting as much as it should’ve Hiccup thought nonchalantly as he chomped into his meal, probably because he used to have a crush on her. Wait…used to? He still did, didn’t he? Of course, he did, Hiccup shook his head, trying to get his thoughts into order.

Gobber slammed the Dragon Manual onto the table, only then gaining the actual attention of Hiccup as his thoughts immediately went to the Night Fury he saw in the cove that day. Thunder rumbled in the distance as the rest of the recruits stumbled off, talking about something or the other, most likely teasing Fishlegs about his need to read the Dragon Manual seven times. Only Astrid remained of the recruits, but she just shoved the book at Hiccup and left without a word as he approached her. Well, good to know her thoughts on him never changed.

With only two lamps to illuminate his table and the distant light of the hall fire roaring a bit away, Hiccup sat down and stared at the large book. The cover was leather with an intricate drawing of a dragon in the middle of it, he grunted slightly as he heaved the book open. He flipped through the pages, noting that almost all the dragons had the warnings ‘Kill on sight’. Even the ones that chokes its victims, turns its victims inside out, extremely dangerous, kill on sight. Hiccup startled as thunder roared outside the hall and lightning briefly illuminated the area. For a moment, Hiccup could’ve sworn he saw the shape of a Night Fury, but he shook it off, knowing that it was just a figment of his imagination.

He flipped and flipped through all the pages of drawings and words before he finally got to the one page that gave him pause.

“Night Fury…” He breathed, there was no drawing on the page and no drawing was needed for him, for he had seen the creature with his own eyes and for the life of him he couldn’t get the image out of his head, “Speed unknown. Size unknown. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you.”

Something in his chest tugged at him again, he really needed to see Gothi about that, he might be coming down with something. Even as he thought that his hands instinctively reached into his coat pocket, opening his notebook to throw it against the Dragon Manual, where the drawing of the Night Fury fit almost perfectly against the pages.

-

But of course it had been another disastrous day of training, the Deadly Nadder that Gobber had so kindly released into their arena had chased down all of them with its mocking trills and growls. Magnesium fuelled blasts shot itself, narrowly singing their hairs and almost hitting their bodies sometimes. Hiccup had attempted to ask Gobber about Night Furies, wanting to know if anyone had ever seen one of spotted one, but the man had just dismissed his questions and yelled at him to get back in there. Astrid was chased around the arena as the Deadly Nadder opted for charging straight through the maze walls instead of hopping on top of them like it had been previously doing, leaving Astrid to jump off the top of a wall and land on Hiccup. Where she stepped on his face to unhook his shield from his arm, since her axe was stuck in there, and smash it into the Nadders face. The Nadder gave a pained shriek and hobbled off, assumedly to go lick its wounds. After that, it somehow got worse as she chewed him out in front of all the recruits and Gobber who did nought to stop her.

Hiccup didn’t really blame Astrid but he couldn’t help the bitter thoughts of ‘Dad would probably prefer her instead of me.’ And ‘ **He’d** never do that to me.’. Hiccup never really caught the last thought though, it went by too fast for him to comprehend, but he was left with a burning feeling in his chest.

So to shake off the humiliation and bitter thoughts, Hiccup went back to the cove, armed with a shield this time. The shield would protect him from any Night Fury blasts surely and he’d be perfectly safe behind- and it got stuck between the rocks. Well so much for that idea, he snorted, sneaking under the stuck shield to pick up the large fish he had thrown over it. He held the fish much like he did with the shield, the dead round eyes looking at him and basically saying ‘this is a bad idea buddy’. But as Hiccup looked around, he couldn’t find the large dark dragon anywhere. Perhaps he managed to climb out, Hiccup wondered thinking his efforts were all for nothing. Ignoring the pang in his chest at the thought of not seeing the dragon again, Hiccup continued to search the cove, never really noticing the bright eyes trained on his small form.

-

What is that human doing here, Torvald thought to himself, crouched on top of a rock and getting ready to pounce if needed. He had smelt the scent of fish and got curious, but now that he looked it seemed like the human was here with an offering. For what reason the young dragon didn’t know, but he was hungry…so with a soft rumble that promised pain with any sudden movements, Torvald climbed very slowly down from his perch, keeping his eyes trained on the human. He stalked ever so slightly closer, even as his eyes drifted from the fish up to the human’s eyes. They froze and the boy exhaled softly as their eyes met again. Something tense seemed to ease in them even as the human smelt of fear and worry.

The human held out the fish to him and Torvald felt his stomach rumble at the smell of food which he covered with a low purr of his own. He approached slowly and was about to grab the fish before the smell of steel pierced through his nose. Growling, Torvald glared at the human and tensed, thinking that perhaps this was a trap and the human planned to kill him if he got close. He ignored his heart screaming at him that the human wouldn’t do this, and continued to growl. The human gasped and opened his coat to reveal the small dagger, Torvald's growls increased as his hands moved towards the blade, but instincts kept him at a distance.

Flinching at the growls, the boy picked up his dagger and dropped it a ways from him, but it wasn’t enough. Torvald wanted to see what the human would do if he just…the dragon rumbled gesturing with a shake of his head to throw the dagger away. And he was pleasantly surprised when the boy immediately picked the dagger up with his foot and tossed it into the lake, to sink to the bottom. Almost immediately, Torvald's worry eased as now the boy merely smelt of well…boy, and fish. He sat down, peering at the other with curiosity and barely concealed hunger. The dragon approached slowly, not wanting to scare the boy away since he had been so nice as to bring him food.

Torvald approached him with his teeth retracted at first, to make sure the boy wouldn’t run away at the sight of his razor-sharp teeth. The boy muttered something about him being toothless, and Torvald took that as a signal to chomp the fish down. It didn’t fill him up completely but it was enough to offset the nagging hunger in his stomach, Torvald purred in satisfaction as he licked his maw. Something tugged at him, causing Torvald to look at the boy properly for the first time. He was skinny, almost unhealthily so, he thought unhappily, approaching the other slowly.

“Ah- um um…Hi, I’m Hiccup,” The boy introduced in a panic, most likely hoping to distract Torvald from his task, “No-no I don’t have anymore,” He whined, backed up against the rock as they held each others gaze.

Silly human, Torvald thought with a flash of surprising fondness, his eyes rolled up as he choked out the bottom half of the fish that was given to him. He was still hungry of course but something in him wanted to make sure this human was fed.

-

Oh god there was a coughed up bottom half of a fish on his lap, Hiccup thought, his brain jumbled together as he tried to calm himself. It was gross, and covered with dragon saliva and Odin knows what other fluids. It was slimy and stank and why was the dragon sitting back on his haunches and staring at him with expectation? Why did Hiccup know that the dragon expected something? And he hoped to every god and goddess out there and every ancestor of his family that he could remember, that this dragon, he really needed to give him a name, didn’t expect him to eat this.

They stared at each other as Toothless, he decided that would be that dragons name, sat on his haunches with widened pupils. Hiccup quickly glanced away but was unable to keep his eyes from straying back to Toothless’ gaze. The dragon glanced down at the fish and back up to him with a concerned rumble, and Hiccup followed his look down to the fish and back up to Toothless with an incredulous look on his face. He sighed, knowing that if he wanted the dragon to soften up to him, why did he want that again Hiccup didn’t remember, then he’d probably have to bite into this disgusting thing.

So Hiccup brought the raw fish up to his face, stifling a gag at the smell of it, and bit into the slime-covered thing. Humming in what he hoped would be interpreted as appreciation, Hiccup nodded his head and smiled, trying to ignore the disgusting taste and texture of raw fish on his tongue. Much to his horror and chagrin, Toothless gulped, still staring at Hiccup with that round-eyed expectant look. The teenager almost whined in complaint as he turned his eyes up to the sky and forced the fish down his gullet, holding his mouth shut as his body attempted to throw back up the unwanted food. He shuddered in disgust but was unable to keep the crooked smile off his face as the dragon licked his mouth as a way to ask ‘was it good?’.

The dragon’s eyes narrowed a little at Hiccup’s smile, and the teenager stared in amazement as Toothless slowly opened his mouth in a copy of the grin but without teeth. He looked ridiculous, Hiccup thought to himself unable to keep the wonder off his face as he reached up with his hand towards the other. For a moment, Hiccup thought they had connected again, but it was broken when Toothless glared at the offending hand and his teeth came down again. He flinched as the dragon growled and flew away before falling down on the other side of the lake.

Hiccup was amazed once again as he stared at the way Toothless prepared to settle down for the night, by emitting a soft blast that burnt the ground beneath him and curling up on top of the now warm bed.

-

Torvald was in fact offended that this human boy – Hiccup, his mind supplied – thought he had the right to touch him. The young dragon didn’t wish to interact with the other anymore so he merely flew- crashed away and tried to settle down for the night. He purred in satisfaction at the feeling of heated ground beneath his body, but immediately deadpanned as his sight which had been previously looking up at a trilling bird fell down to Hiccup; who had somehow snuck up on him. The boy sat just a little away from his body so Torvald didn’t mind too badly, his presence was somehow soothing but the dragon didn’t really feel like analysing his feelings just yet so he merely settled down, using his wings and tail fin to cover the rest of his body and face.

He felt a little annoyed when he heard the shifting of ground, just knowing that the human was scooching ever so slightly closer to touch him. A part of Torvald wanted to let the human do so, but the other part of him growled at the mere thought of it. So just before Hiccup could lay a finger on himself, Torvald raised his tailfin to stare at the offending finger with a low rumble. Almost laughingly, the boy immediately shot to his feet and awkwardly walked away, trying to seem innocent. But the annoyed part of him forced him to abandon his warm bed to hang from a branch by his tail.

Managing an hour or so of sleep, Torvald trilled softly as he woke to the sound of scratching on the ground and trotted over to watch what Hiccup was doing. He stared in wonder as the boy sketched out what seemed to be a portrayal of his dragon form on the ground, and it was rather flattering if he did say so himself, Torvald thought with a pleased purr. Wanting to show Hiccup his appreciation, Torvald walked off on his hind legs to find a suitable branch for what he wanted to do. He almost growled when he couldn’t find one suited to his body size and resorted to just uprooting an entire small tree for his purposes. And with a rumble of interest, Torvald started drawing on the ground as he had seen Hiccup do, occasionally glancing back at the boy and sometimes accidentally smacking his head with the leafy part of the tree.

At last, when his work was done, Torvald sat back to admire his drawing. Sure it was scrawly and not particularly accurate but it was his. He purred as he saw the brilliantly curious and awed light come to Hiccup’s eyes again. The boy looked around but stepped on a line that made Torvald growl unhappily, only purring when he lifted his foot from the drawing Torvald so carefully made. Hiccup stepped on it again and Torvald growled once more, and the cycle continued once more as Torvald was starting to feel actually annoyed. But it seemed Hiccup had learned as he avoided stepping on the line again, so Torvald continued to purr and rumble, pleased that his human admired his work. His human? What did- he didn’t even have time to comprehend his thoughts as Hiccups back was immediately in front of him. Torvald huffed, ruffling the tousled brown hair and took in the scent of flame and wood that was purely Hiccup.

-

Hiccup froze at the puff of air that rustled against his head and flinched back when he turned to meet Toothless’ eyes again. The dragon lowered its snout as it appraised him, purring softly as they were unable to tear their eyes from the other. Hiccup felt something tug at his hand and he attempted to reach out to the dragon only to be met with flinches and growls even as the other maintained eye contact. So he turned his head away but kept his hand outstretched. He couldn’t see the other but he could feel the soft breaths of him just puffing against the palm of his hand. The young teen had no idea what he was doing but…but something just felt right, something tugged at him and told him this was what he was supposed to do. So he did, and he winced as he felt something warm touch his hand, peering up once again as Toothless took his snout away. They stared at one another and Hiccup could feel something spark once again but this time he didn’t flinch away from it…Toothless did. And with a growl the Night Fury bounded away, leaving him with his thoughts and the memories of a warm nose against his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys know the drill, comments, kudos, blablabla. Constructive criticism and things you'd like to see in future chapters is always welcome though I won't promise that the latter will always be fulfilled!
> 
> *Torvald (toothless's name) means The Rule of Thor in Norse names  
> His previous one was Toshiro due to a mixup with this stupid naming book I was scrawling through, if you spot any "Toshiro's" in the story just point them out to me please my eyesight isn't the best so I might be able to fix all the Toshiro's.
> 
> Social Media:  
> Twitter: twitter.com/KylesMoony  
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> 
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> 
> I do have art and writing commissions open, so feel free to check it out below: https://tinyurl.com/y754elbd


	5. Flight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those that haven't noticed, I've changed Toothless' name from Toshiro to Torvald which is a proper Norse name since I had a bit of a mixup with this stupid naming book I have so yeah. Torvald means The Rule of Thor which is literally the only name I liked that started with T so yeah, if you guys spot a random Toshiro somewhere please tell me since I wrote half of this chapter before I realised my mistake. 
> 
> Just a reminder that I'm writing most of this with blurry eyes and a very very adhd riddled brain so if there are scenes that suddenly cut off for no reason, or thing's that randomly doesn't make sense feel free to comment about them but nicely, please! I don't have a beta for this fic yet (though if you're interested to beta feel free to shoot me a comment with your email, comments are moderated so if you want your email kept private just mention it in said comment) so please be kind to this dumbass lol

**The young teen had no idea what he was doing but…but something just felt right, something tugged at him and told him this was what he was supposed to do. So he did, and he winced as he felt something warm touch his hand, peering up once again as Toothless took his snout away. They stared at one another and Hiccup could feel something spark once again but this time he didn’t flinch away from it…Toothless did. And with a growl the Night Fury bounded away, leaving him with his thoughts and the memories of a warm nose against his hand.**

They sat around the fire as Gobber told the same story for the billionth time to Hiccup, but since it was the recruits' first time they sat in awe and wonder as he recounted the tale of how he lost his hand and leg. He couldn’t be bothered to concentrate on the story, he’d heard it so many times before, now his mind was on the Night Fury – Toothless, his mind supplied. There was so much intelligence behind those large eyes, and…the spark he felt. The little sharp wriggle that went up from his stomach to his chest, the feeling that made it hard to breathe, leaving him panting in short gasps. Hiccup didn’t know how to comprehend that feeling, the immediate bond he felt between them. Vikings and dragons have always been at war so he couldn’t actually be having feelings for the dragon right? He just felt guilty because he injured him that’s all.

For just a moment, Hiccup allowed his thoughts to stray and he wondered what Toothless’ Anthro form would look like. He shivered, probably because they were so high up and the wind was strong. Ignore the fire that was flaring in front of him, casting red and yellow light across everyone’s faces. But then something Gobber said caught his attention, and he narrowed his eyes in concentration.

“It’s the wings and tails you really want,” Gobber chuckled, ripping the wing off of his chicken for emphasis, “If it can’t fly, it can’t get away. A downed dragon is a dead dragon.”

Hiccup stifled a horrified gasp as his eyes widened and he quickly snuck off just as Gobber and the other recruits were talking about the final test. Where one of them would earn the ‘honour’ of killing an actual dragon. He never saw Astrid’s suspicious glance as he stumbled down the stairs.

With Gobber’s words still in his mind, Hiccup got out his notebook and sketches of Toothless. He could do this, he thought with determination, it’s the least he could do after…another tug at his heart stopped Hiccup from thinking any further. And so, Hiccup got to work, he sketched and made plans for a replacement tail fin. Toiling away at the forge all night, cooling heated metals, hammering nails, and weighing bearings, until finally it was done. Hiccup looked at the makeshift tail fin, made of metal and strong fabric that would hopefully hold in the harsh winds, and felt a strong sense of satisfaction. Something deep in him trilled in happiness at this new prospect, but he didn’t have time to ponder on it. Morning was coming and he had just a bit more work to do, so with a nod Hiccup set off.

-

It was bright and early, the bowl that was their cove was dimly illuminated in the morning rays of sun. Toothless rested just beside the waterfall and Hiccup grunted under the weight of his bearings. He just hoped that Toothless would behave and that hopefully, this would work.

“Hey Toothless,” Hiccup cooed in what he hoped was a calming tone, “I brought breakfast,” He grunted kicking over the basket full of fish that he brought with him. Now that got Toothless’ attention. They had had some time to bond and Toothless, it seemed, had a never-ending appetite for fish. Hiccup had yet to figure out his favourites, so he just brought the works.

“Okay, that’s disgusting,” He winced at the smell and slimy sound the fish made as they fell over, “Uh…we’ve got some salmon,” which Toothless swallowed, “some nice Icelandic cod…” also swallowed, “and a whole smoked eel.”

That got Toothless’ hackles raised, and Hiccup heard a familiar threatening chitter, a sound that came from a mixture of Toothless’ growls and flickering ear fins. Well, the teenager thought to himself, guess that was a bad idea. He reached for the striped eel and held it up a little, just to make sure he didn’t read the situation wrongly, only to immediately realise his mistake as Toothless raised himself higher, his pupils slit in alarm and snarled.

Maybe panic might be a strong word, but it was very similar to what Hiccup felt at that moment, “No, no, no!” He tried to calm the Fury, throwing the eel far, far away from either of them before wiping the slime away on his vest, “It’s okay.” Toothless snorted, “Yeah, I don’t really like eel much either.”

Now that the threat was gone, Toothless calmed down bending down to nose through the pile of fish, leaving Hiccup to his own devices. Which was all well and good as Hiccup inched his way around the dragon with his second bearing of the morning, muttering platitudes all the while to make sure Toothless had no idea what he was about to do. He occasionally flinched at the pleased rumbles and growls that Toothless emanated when he was particularly pleased with a fish, but he also felt happy that the dragon was satisfied. No time for that, Hiccup grumbled to himself, attempting to strap on the tail fin from the side only for it to shift. Okay, he could deal with that just inch closer. The tail shifted again, bothersome, Hiccup thought, inching closer yet again. The tail moved once more except this time it started jumping up and down.

Thoroughly done with this nonsense of a shifting tail that just refused to stay still and make this easier on them all, Hiccup sat down on the tail, front facing the Night Fury’s tail to have a better grip. He strapped on the makeshift fin that was attachable by a fairly easy buckle and spread it open for comparison. Quite pleased with his work and the accuracy, Hiccup murmured a few compliments to his work as he fiddled with the adjustments. That was when it all went to Hel.

-

To say Torvald was pleased was an understatement, his human – Hiccup – had brought him a rather large basket of fish for breakfast. He rumbled happily when the offending eel was thrown away, nasty things, and got to work gobbling down his food. Now remember when we said Torvald ‘was’ pleased? Well to say Torvald is in fact not particularly pleased at this very moment with a heavy weight on his tail, was, in fact, a very large understatement. He shifted his tail around, hoping that perhaps just maybe he was wrong and that Hiccup did not do something as stupid as to sit on his tail which still occasionally stung from the torn off fin. Nope, his wings and ears drooped in shock.

He could hear Hiccup muttering to himself again but he ignored it as he spread his wings and his tail, preparing for flight. Thrusting himself into the air with a small growl, Hiccup screamed as they were both about to fall, but for some reason, Torvald didn’t quite know just yet, they suddenly went from almost crashing to soaring in the air. The dragon savoured the feeling of the sun on his face and the wind under his wings, he dived once more to fly over the cove and remembered, after a brief yell of “Yes! Yes, I did it!” that Hiccup was still attached to his tail. Growling in irritation and rolling his eyes, Torvald turned sharply, letting Hiccup skid across the water's surface. He knew nothing dangerous was in there and after a brief glance to see that he was okay, the dragon tried to fly out of the cove on his own. Except without the tail fin being held open by Hiccup, Torvald crashed into the water as well.

Frustrated, the Night Fury merely glared at Hiccup from across the water and swam out, flicking the fin off easily. The human tried to get his attention, but Torvald refused, turning away to sulk. He felt a bit bad, especially when the human sadly muttered “Well…guess I’ll be going then.”, but then he remembered the serious breach of etiquette and privacy of Hiccup daring to touch his still injured tail. But, Hiccup was trying wasn’t he, some irritating voice in his mind whined. He made that fin for us to fly again, he just wants to help. Perhaps, Torvald rumbled, watching Hiccup climb out of the cove, perhaps he’d be more accommodating to the human next time.

-

“Now, a wet dragon head can’t light its fire. The Hideous Zippleback is extra tricky,” Gobber drawled with a smirk on his face that really didn’t bode well for any of them, “One head breathes gas, the other head light's it. Your job is to know which is which.”

Hiccup was incredibly not amused at this turn of events, but the slight weight on his shoulder gave him a fail-safe that would at least, he hoped, spare his life. Smoke spilt out of the open doors, encircling the group and cutting them off into pairs. Each person held a bucket filled with water, which Hiccup was struggling just a little to hold up and had doubts that he’d be able to throw it at the long-necked dragon.

He was, unfortunately, cut off with Fishlegs whose coping mechanism when it came to dragons went down to breaking down all the brilliant ways the dragon could kill you. It did **nothing** to calm Hiccup down thank you very much.

“Will you please stop that?” Hiccup whisper-snarled, tense enough as it is. He didn’t really want to die to a two-headed dragon, especially since he had a very big responsibility to take care of that rested now in the cove.

For a moment, Hiccup and Fishlegs were alone, listening to the trills of the Zippleback fill the air around them. They both startled as they heard Astrid, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout grunting and occasionally screaming.

Tuffnut ran out of the fog screaming, “Oh I’m hurt! I am very much hurt!” which also did absolutely nothing to ease either of the two from their tension.

“Chances of survival are dwindling into the single digits now,” Fishlegs muttered clutching at his bucket all the tighter as one Zippleback head emerged out of the smoke.

Hiccup watched in rapture and no small amounts of fear as Fishlegs backed up from the dragon, the dragon seemed to taunt Fishlegs by following the water bucket with its head. Fishlegs threw the water at the dragon head, but just before he could Hiccup instinctively knew, that that was not the head he should’ve doused. The dragon trilled in amusement as it dripped with water, a green gas spewing out of its mouth as it stared at Fishlegs.

“Oh,” The large boy chuckled weakly, “Wrong head,” Fishlegs screamed and ran away as the dragon head roared, spewing its gas at him.

Gobber yelled the others name in panic, but it didn’t seem to register with Hiccup as he watched the second head appear, sparks flying out of its mouth. On Gobbler's command of “Now, Hiccup!”, the scrawny teen weakly threw the water up at the sparking head. It fell just short, both heads looking down in bemusement at the pathetic attempt to douse their spark. The dragon could scent something on the boy, but they weren’t sure what just yet, so the sparking head approached, rumbling softly before it roared, stalking after Hiccup with its wings outstretched.

“Oh, come on,” Hiccup grumbled, very much done with this whole situation as he fell backwards.

He could hear Gobber yell his name in panic, but after a glance to make sure that nobody would see him do this, Hiccup opened his vest ever so slightly to let the scent of eel reach the dragons.

“Back!” The boy commanded repeatedly, making sure to let them scent the smell of eel every time it looked like they’d disobey, the dragon screeched and hissed in alarm scrambling away from the boy and back into its cave.

“Yes, that’s right. Back into your cage,” Hiccup slyly opened his vest, letting the dragons properly see the eel they feared so much, “Now think about what you’ve done,” He muttered tossing it into the cave, making a mental note to fetch it later so no one would notice.

The dragon hissed back at him, but cowered in the corner, away from the eel. When, Hiccup closed the door and turned away, wiping at the gunk on his hands, the whole team plus Gobber was watching him in awe. Mouths open, eyes wide, the works. Hiccup stomped down the feeling of immense smugness and awkwardly exited with some half-hearted excuse about having things to do. Which he did, have things to do, nothing that would be very much approved of in the village of course, but something about the incident that morning tugged at him. So, once again, Hiccup set to work.

Sewing was never really his strong suit, but a few blisters and cuts were well worth it for what he had finished hours later. A saddle, just perfect for Toothless’ back and just his size too sat on the floor in front of him. Hiccup dusted off a bit of imaginary debris and resolved to show this to Toothless the next morning. He didn’t know why, but he hoped the dragon would like it, something in him sang at the thought of gaining the Night Fury’s approval.

-

Torvald stared at the saddle that was held up to him with no small amounts of amusement, well, if his human wanted to put it on him, he’d have to catch the Night Fury first. And so a game of chase began, Hiccup chasing Torvald around the small cove with the saddle held above his head. The dragon knew not to run too fast, the scrawny boy would probably take that as a sign of frustration and walk off all sad like again, and something in him cried at the thought of that. So they played for a while, Torvald enjoying the merry game of catch the dragon that they had started until at last he stood still for Hiccup to strap the saddle onto him.

The boy panted and glared in a huff, but Torvald could see the glitter in the boy's eyes, the stifled giggles and laughter as the Night Fury purposely wriggled around occasionally just to tease the other. The saddle felt weird strapped onto his back like that and some parts of it itched a little at first, but he withstood it even as the weird feeling increased with Hiccup’s weight. The newly acquired weight felt uncomfortable, but, Torvald thought, he could withstand it if the boy was really that pleased by it. And boy, was Hiccup pleased, the dragon could practically feel the happy vibrations radiating off the other. It was a bit infectious he admitted, shifting around excitedly as Hiccup made a few more adjustments.

So when they were flying over the lake, Hiccup looking back to tug at the string attached to his fake tail fin, Torvald rumbled in rapture, enjoying once more the feeling of flight. Getting used to Hiccup’s weight on his back proved fairly easy as they had walked around the cove for a while first before taking off. Unfortunately that all came to a close when Hiccup tugged at the fin very wrongly, causing Torvald to veer left and Hiccup to fall off to the right. They both fell into the water and Torvald grumbled in disapproval as Hiccup scrambled out of the lake. He’d probably have to fix that, both the falling off the saddle and the lack of control the other had over his tail fin.

On another note, Torvald pondered on the implications of the human-given name ‘Toothless’ a few hours after Hiccup had left. He didn’t quite know how to feel about it, in Night Fury culture giving another a new name was a sign of interest in marriage. In human terms, it was like giving someone an engagement ring. It signified an offer, a start of a new life together, usually, the submissive mate would offer the new name first as a sign of consent to an engagement. But, he grumbled flicking an ear in irritation, Torvald didn’t think that Hiccup knew exactly what giving Torvald a new name meant. He’d accept it for now though, he wasn’t exactly sure why but the new name felt nice. Perhaps he’d come up with one for Hiccup one day, Toothless purred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, I'm posting as many chapters as possible because my computer needs to head off for fixing and I want to give you guys as much as I can write before I disappear for a few days. I do post updates and occasional sneak peeks of this fic on my twitter though, so if you guys would like to grab a spoiler or give me any suggestions feel free to DM or tag me on twitter. 
> 
> *Torvald (toothless's name) means The Rule of Thor in Norse names  
> His previous one was Toshiro due to a mixup with this stupid naming book I was scrawling through, if you spot any "Toshiro's" in the story just point them out to me please my eyesight isn't the best so I might be able to fix all the Toshiro's.
> 
> Social Media:  
> Twitter: twitter.com/KylesMoony  
> Tumblr: www.tumblr.com/blog/justyouraverageshittyblogger  
> DeviantArt: https://genericmoron.deviantart.com/
> 
> Help support me:  
> Patreon: www.patreon.com/ThatGenericMoron  
> Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/thatgenericidiot
> 
> I do have art and writing commissions open, so feel free to check it out below: https://tinyurl.com/y754elbd


	6. Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't one of my best works to be honest and I need to say first hand that I'm really sorry about that. I haven't written in a few days and it takes me a while to get myself back into the groove again, so if you guys spot any grammar mistakes or repetitive words or randomly cut off sentences/paragraphs/scenes please tell me nicely. I've been struggling against migraines since yesterday, so be gentle with this stupid child thank you

The more time they spent together, the more Hiccup and Toothless’ bond grew. Hiccup began to see Toothless’ as less of a pet and more of a-, well, a friend? He was still figuring that out, considering he still had a budding crush on Astrid and a Viking-Dragon relationship wasn’t the most normal thing. The topic had persisted in his mind even as he continued to develop his saddle and the contraption that would help him help Toothless fly again. The more he tinkered, the more he flew, the less the burden of _everything_ weighed on him. Even amongst their occasional failures, the two continued to grow closer and closer.

Thinking about that incident when they had crash landed into a field of Dragon Nip, Hiccup had named it obviously, made the young teen chuckle as he tinkered. His hook had come off, and his roll off of Toothless’ back was less than graceful, but watching Toothless be rendered a purring kitten was worth it. It seemed this specific type of grass had catnip like properties towards dragons, leaving the Night Fury a mass of happy rumbles. Even just a little bit of the Dragon Nip had let Hiccup down a Gronkle that was flying towards him during training. The widening of the dragons pupils was rather cute, but Hiccup couldn’t stop the stray thought of Toothless being cuter.

Sooner or later, the news of Hiccup’s victories and success in the ring had spread through the village. Viking’s started filtering in to watch the previously-a-mess teen defeat the dragons. Even the other trainees had warmed up to him, Astrid remained cold. They crowded around him now, asking him all sorts of questions. His cousin Snotlout was even treating him nicely, which surprised Hiccup more than anything. Some part of him couldn’t help but wish Astrid would warm up to him like the others did.

Just as he thought of Astrid, the memories of large green eyes suddenly invaded his mind and Hiccup found himself throwing another flimsy excuse to escape, bumping into Astrid on the way. He ran back to the cove, making a brief pitstop by his house to pick up his riding outfit. It was simple, a few straps of leather and shoulder pads, as well as buckles that helped him stay on Toothless’ saddle. They’d just had a great round of flying again, but as Hiccup watched Toothless scratch behind his ears, he got an idea.

“Heyy Toothless,” Hiccup cooed as he got closer, stroking down his friends head as he stood by the large body.

Toothless purred in curiosity, watching Hiccup out of the corner of his eyes. The eyes that watched him soon closed in pleasure and a louder purr rumbled out of Toothless’ chest as Hiccup started scratching at the dragon’s back. He grinned as the Night Fury pushed up against his small body, feeling the happy rumbles sink deep into his bones. Eventually though, just for the sake of trying, Hiccup brought one hand down to scratch under Toothless’ chin. Almost immediately, much to his immense surprise, Toothless’ eyes rolled up, his purring spiked and choked off as he collapsed onto the ground. For a moment, Hiccup thought he had accidentally hurt his friend, but he stifled a small laugh when he saw the smile on Toothless’ face and heard his satisfied growl.

Amazed at what his hands could do, Hiccup wasted no time using his special scratching technique during his next training session. He almost didn’t want to, he was gaining a lot of attention and he was starting to miss his quiet life from before. But as he saw Astrid’s murderous eyes running towards the Nadder, Hiccup panicked and immediately used it, smiling sheepishly as Astrid panted in surprise. As he gained more traction, the less quiet his life became and with Toothless around the more conflicted Hiccup was. He was flooded with new “fans” in the Mead Hall, bombarded with questions just walking around, and he didn’t know how no one had discovered Toothless and their cove yet. So every day he learned to be more sneaky, more cautious in walking around, and in worrying about Toothless and his newfound popularity, Hiccup failed to notice the anger in Astrid’s eyes growing.

His next discovery only cemented his opinion that dragons were less like lizards and more like large, scaly cats. He tried to stop his chuckles as that usually meant Toothless would go off to sulk again, but a few choked giggles slipped out which the dragon, thankfully, did not hear. What was the cause of his laughter? Well, the curious and mildly frustrated growls was a clue, the other was the small beam of light that Hiccup was currently using to play with Toothless. He was adjusting a few things on the saddle when he noticed Toothless’ wide-eyed purrs at the small beam of sunlight reflecting off his hammer. This particular realisation was very useful against his next training session too, against a small dragon known as the Terrible Terror.

The tiny dragon trilled as she slapped her tongue against her eyeball, which only made the other recruits chuckle.

“Ha!” Tuffnut crowed, pointing at the small creature, “It’s like the size of my-“ He was thankfully cut off, Hiccup sent a small thanks to the Gods for that one, by the tiny dragon as she leapt upon his face in a blur. He landed on his butt, yelping in pain as the Terror chewed on his nose.

“Get it off! Get it off!” The teen cried as his nose started turning red from pain, the dragon cooed as it released Tuffnut’s nose to chase after something, “Oh! I’m hurt! I am very much hurt!”

Hiccup had to stifle another giggle at Tuffnut’s reaction to a bit of chewing on his nose as he used his light trick to lead the Terrible Terror back into her cave. The other teens stared at him again in awe, and he suppressed a wince when he heard Tuffnut’s next words to Astrid, “Wow he’s better than you ever were.”

-

When Hiccup next returned to the cove, he nervously happened upon a very unhappy Astrid as she hurled her axe at the trunks of a few poor trees. He could feel his heart rate speed up nervously as their eyes met, and he slipped away as quickly as his small body could. Glancing back every now and then to make sure he wasn’t being followed, even as his mind started differentiating the thumps of his heart when he was with Toothless versus the thumps of fear at being caught when he was with Astrid. He refused to think too much on it though, wanting to get back up in the air with his friend as soon as he could.

First things first, he decided, he needed to write down all the wing positions along with what they did, Hiccup didn’t trust his memory when they were soaring high in the air. He sketched down as many details as he could, having linked Toothless and himself to a pole on a cliff that always caught the sea breeze, however, a rope proved to be weaker than the power of air against wings as they went flying backwards. Toothless crooned in concern as he rolled over and Hiccup yelped when his riding vest was tugged by the now broken buckle.

“Oh, great,” He muttered, he couldn’t fix this here so…and his heart gave another frightened thump, he’d have to bring Toothless into the village.

Hiccup waited for the cover of night, hoping that Toothless’ black body would be enough camouflage in the dimly lit village.

-

Toothless rumbled curiously as he was led by Hiccup into the human village. They had usually stuck to the outskirts of the island, safely away from prying eyes. He knew that it’d be extremely dangerous if they were caught, so he allowed himself to be quietly led into a building that smelt of coal and metals. However, he relaxed slightly as he could smell his human’s scent strongly in this area. ‘A blacksmiths’ his mind supplied. Of course, he rumbled, his human was a creative one, having fixed him up a new tail to make up for his lost one.

However, despite his normally great restraint, Toothless couldn’t help but stick his nose into a bucket that was beside the entrance. The bucket smelt of…well, he’d rather not get into that, but it smelt horrible so with a swing of his head the bucket flew off and crash landed somewhere else. It had unfortunately caused a bit of a ruckus, Toothless winced, feeling his human tense up. He held still again though as Hiccup started trying to pry the hook into its proper shape, grunting as the metal proved unyielding at first.

Another was approaching, he realised, hearing the footsteps run towards the building. A female, a female human, Toothless growled silently, not particularly sure why he was upset at this.

“Hiccup?” The impertinent female called, she knew his human's name too, probably before he did, “Are you in there?”. This was bad, was a thought shared by both rider and dragon as they looked up in alarm. Toothless wanted to grab his rider by the back of his shirt and run back to their cove, Hiccup had slept over a few times before, curled into his body with his wing and tail as a blanket, what was another night, right? But before he could do as his instincts screamed to do, he watched in surprise as his human leapt out of the window, slamming it close behind him.

“Astrid!” His human stuttered, Toothless grumbled silently at the nervous yet slightly affectionate tone his rider had, “Hey! Hi Astrid. Hi Astrid. Hi Astrid.” Hiccup repeated, probably to try and calm himself down, Toothless shook himself in amusement. His Hiccup tended to do that when his thoughts were scrambled.

“I normally don’t care what people do, but you’re acting weird.” The female human accused, before startling when Toothless tugged at the rope that still connected them through closed doors, “Well, weirder.”

Hiccup chuckled nervously outside the stall, and Toothless had had quite enough of this female human around his Hiccup. She can get her own human, thank you very much, he decided. He didn’t quite care to analyse his sudden protective streak, so Toothless continued to tug at the rope, raising Hiccup up the crack of the window as he continued to sheepishly smile. At last, as Hiccup’s whole body was now above the sill, Toothless firmly tugged, yanking Hiccup through the window as it’s doors slammed back in Astrid’s face. His human smacked him lightly in reprimand, but he responded by flicking the boy across the face gently.

As they bounded away through the night, Toothless could hear the female human pull the window doors open again and snarl in frustration as Hiccup was no longer there. The village torches only briefly illuminated them as they flew away.

“Toothless!” Hiccup yelped as he scrambled to the ground, unhooking his buckle from the hook that had thankfully given way just before Hiccup jumped out the window. His human turned around to glare at him, but the glare softened almost immediately as their eyes met again.

He crooned in comfort as he burnt the ground around them and curled around Hiccups body, resting his wing over the other to preserve warmth. Hiccup grumbled but eventually complied after waiting for his patch of ground to not be red hot from dragon fire. They were silent for a moment, merely enjoying each others company as Toothless continued to coo at the other.

The silence was broken when Hiccup asked, very softly, a question that made the dragon’s head raise in alert, “Dragons have a…a human-like form, right?”, well obviously, he nodded his head hesitantly.

Much to his chagrin, Hiccup got up from his resting place to gather some scattered wood around them for a fire. The air was tense now, awkward, as Hiccup seemed to struggle to find the words he needed.

-

“Well…you know, we’ve known each other for a while now and-“ Toothless was staring at him now, great, that just made it more awkward, “and well other than that one time, you’ve never really…shifted into that form.”

That one time, referring to the time he had freed the Night Fury, failed his village as a Viking, and then fainted onto the ground like a damsel in distress. He had only glimpsed the strong wings and lean body before his eyes were captured by the other again. Those eyes…he had lost himself in them, they were so full of intelligence and life, he could even see himself in those round eyes. He’d been so concentrated on them that well, he didn’t get a very good look at the other. And Toothless knew the human language as well considering how he spoke to Hiccup the last time. He was just curious, something in him really wanted to see and talk to Toothless, to find out more about him. Hiccup had been searching for a moment to breach the topic, and some selfish part of him wanted to enjoy their time together in case Toothless took offence.

Time seemed to come to a standstill as Toothless seemed to understand what Hiccup was hinting at, they stared at one another until Hiccup tried to glance away. The dragon growled when Hiccup brought his eyes away, so the teenager immediately looked back at his companion. Hiccup bit his lip nervously and fiddled with the stack of wood in his arms, Toothless cocked his head to the side.

“Um…so-“ Hiccup paused for a while, “Y’know…I was just wondering…if maybe I could see it, sometime, maybe, I mean it’s up to you, but I just…it’d be nice to talk to you,” He babbled nervously, finally able to tear his eyes away from Toothless’ as he looked down at the ground, scuffing his boots around.

All sorts of emotions that he couldn’t really comprehend was flooding his body, and he couldn’t bring himself to look back up at the dragon that was now crooning in concern. Hiccup winced when he felt a short puff of air on his cheek and a warm body nudge his abdomen.

-

Toothless was conflicted, while he longed to exchange words with Hiccup, to actually speak with him, it was also extremely improper for a dragon of any species to be in their Anthro form amongst those that are not family or mates. He was too young to actually take a mate and his family…they weren’t around anymore. Toothless rarely even took on his Anthro form except for tasks better handled with hands and well…that one time. He couldn’t explain why he felt the need to shift into his human-like form in front of Hiccup that other time, but it wasn’t proper for him to do it again. Crooning in concern as Hiccup refused to meet his eyes, Toothless nudged his side guiltily, he knew how Hiccup felt, the need to be able to talk to the other was a bit difficult to ignore.

“That was silly of me,” Hiccup laughed, having spent the last few minutes setting up a small wood pile for the fire in silent contemplation. Toothless followed his movements, still concerned at the stiff way the teenager moved, but it wasn’t as if he could tell Hiccup _why_ it wasn’t possible or proper for Toothless to take on his Anthro form.

“It’s alright, bud,” he curled up against Toothless’ body once again, “Now that I really think about it, I’ve never even had a good look at any dragon’s Anthro form,” Toothless snorted, he certainly hoped Hiccup didn’t or he’d have to go after that dragon sooner or later, “You guys only really use it in battle or just around family probably and I guess I’m not really in either of those situations.”

Rumbling at Hiccup’s self-deprecating laugh, Toothless ended the conversation with a few licks to Hiccup’s face which earned him a few adorable giggles and disgusted ‘Ewww Toothless!’ from the small boy. By now, the moon was high in the sky with soft beams of light reflecting off the lakes surface and the fire that Toothless had lit cast shadows across their bodies. It took a while, but soon Hiccup had hunkered down and he could hear the others breathing slow in sleep. He looked across Hiccup’s small form, giving one last soft lick to the boy's face before settling down as well, using his wing as a blanket for his human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! I was thinking of what Hiccup's name from Toothless would be in the future, so I have two options I like which are Bjarte meaning bright man and Destin meaning determined. You guys can choose from those two or you can suggest a Norse/Viking name that you like with the meaning behind said name. Remember that this is a name Toothless would want to give Hiccup!
> 
> *Torvald (toothless's name) means The Rule of Thor in Norse names
> 
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	7. A Thousand Views

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S BACK! Sorry for disappearing, I just got a job and I've been a bit busy settling down into it. Also I started feeling guilty for writing this fic since I saw this tumblr text post talking about how horrible it is for people to take healthy male friendships and enforce romance onto them, which is kinda what I'm doing. So yeah I had to fight through the guilt for that cause if I just up and abandoned this fic because of a text post I'd probably have to delete my whole A03 account lol
> 
> OH and if you can't tell, I kind of stole this tite from the song Fly Away by TheFatRat
> 
> Anyways as a side note, I kind of struggled with this chapter a bit, so once again if you spot any grammar mistakes or repetitive words or randomly cut off sentences/paragraphs/scenes please tell me nicely and I'll fix them as soon as possible

With the wind in his hair and the sun on his back, Hiccup realised that flying with Toothless will never get old. The cheat sheet was finished and fluttered against the saddle. Hiccup could sense the satisfaction from the other and it warmed his chest against the cold air. His father had been away for some time now, no longer than all his usual exploits for the dragon’s nest; Hiccup was just thankful that Toothless was here with him rather than out there where his father might…  
Toothless chirred at Hiccup’s darkening thoughts, shaking the boy in his saddle just enough to knock him back to reality. Hiccup couldn’t figure it out but it seemed so easy for them to pick up on each other’s feelings. Usually, after a day of wincing at glares from Astrid, Hiccup would come to the cove exhausted and tired, but a few chirps and purrs from Toothless was all it took to bring a grin to his face again.

  
Patting his dragon’s neck gratefully, Hiccup scanned his cheat sheet in contemplation, “Ok, bud. We’re gonna take this nice and slow,” He rolled his eyes at the doubtful rumble he got in return, “Here we go, here we go. Position…three. No, four.”

  
He locked his foot in the stirrups that controlled Toothless’ makeshift tail and adjusted. The tail snapped open with a satisfying “Thwip!” that got lost in the wind. Toothless glanced back, just to make sure he was opening his remaining tail fin the right way.

  
They soared high above the ocean, making a graceful U-turn back towards their island and Hiccup couldn’t stop the smile of delight from sneaking onto his face. Glancing down, he could see a similar toothless grin on his dragon’s face and any doubts he had about his father, his people, washed away in the knowing of Toothless being there to support him. They flew a bit shakily for a while, Hiccup’s large makeshift fin flapping in the air in the sort of way that made him just a bit nervous. But no time for that.

  
“All right, it’s go time. It’s go time,” Hiccup grabbed onto the saddle, feeling his stomach dip as Toothless growled and subsequently dived down. Watching the sea and large rocks rush up towards them might’ve turned the mightiest Viking’s stomach, but out here in the sky, held up by Toothless’ wings, feeling more than seeing the other supporting him, Hiccup let out a yell of excitement. He crouched low on Toothless’ back as he let the dragon guide them through the tall islands, laughing at the sting of sea spray on his cheeks as Toothless dipped to the side.

  
It was here he was free.

  
Free from Viking expectations, free from Astrid’s hateful glare, free from everything.

  
Even free from the heavy weight of his father that still held him down while the other was miles away.

  
And as they flew beneath a large stone arch, Hiccup looked up at the cries of seagulls flying through. It was then that he realised what it really was to be a dragon. Wonder flooded his insides as he took in the feeling of the wind and the smell of the salty sea air. But as they cleared the arch, wonder became satisfaction as he realised that his contraption was fully functioning now, even if the tail was a bit unwieldy.  
Too busy being happy about his invention, Hiccup didn’t pull in time to stop both Toothless and him from crashing into a rock. Toothless growled unhappily, managing to push them off it and continue gliding through instead of outright falling.

  
“Sorry!” Hiccup called, and not learning his lesson, was too busy wrapped up in embarrassment to turn in time for them to crash into another rock. They were also saved, again, by Toothless merely pushing off of it with a louder growl.

  
“That was my fault,” he offered awkwardly, only to flinch as Toothless flicked his ear to smack Hiccup’s cheek. His cheek stung a little from the already chilly air streaming past it but he paid it no mind, choosing instead to glare at the cheat sheet and readjust the tail again, “Yeah, I’m on it,” he grumbled, “Position four- uh, three.” He always mixed those two up.

  
Speaking of up, that’s where they were currently going, Toothless roared as he flew upwards. His powerful wings pushing down on the air that brought them higher and higher. Hiccup grinned again, laughing as Toothless opened his mouth to allow his tongue to flap in the wind.

  
“Yeah!” Hiccup cried in excitement, “Go, baby! Oh, this is amazing,” He laughed as they continued to gain air, the sun pierced his eyes but he ignored it to enjoy the sensation of being so high in the air, “The wind in my- CHEAT SHEET!”  
To his horror, the cheat sheet that he and Toothless had spent hours working on snapped out of its holder pace threatening to flutter down and lose itself in the ocean below. He yelled for Toothless to stop, jumping to grab the small paper. In doing so, he watched in almost suspended time, the buckle that kept him tethered to Toothless, slipped out from its hook. It felt like they hovered above the clouds for a few seconds, just enough time to look at each other. Their eyes widened in fear and shock, Toothless screeching as he immediately started falling without Hiccup to stabilise his tail.

  
“NO!” Hiccup yelled the sheet grasped tightly in his hand, fear for his dragon outweighing the fear for his own life. He needed this sheet to save Toothless and he would do it.

  
They free fell from the sky, Toothless’ and Hiccup’s shouts of terror at their impending doom was drowned out by the sounds of air screaming past their ears.  
“All right, Ok, you’ve gotta kind of angle yourself,” He tried to tell Toothless who was now spinning, they couldn’t both be panicking or they’d be in Valhalla sooner than later, “Ok, nonono. Come back towards me! Come back down-“ Hiccup yelped as Toothless’ tail slapped him in the face.

  
A stinging streak made itself known on his skin, shocking Hiccup back into thinking properly even as his heart was pounding and his stomach was sinking from the ocean that was rapidly approaching them. They’d die if they hit that water, at least on land they’d have trees to somewhat cushion their fall but on water? By now they had fallen past the mountain peak, and the panic, while still very prevalent, had subsided just enough for Hiccup to make a grab at Toothless’ saddle.

  
Got it.

  
They spun upside down as Hiccup righted himself on Toothless’ back, finally manage to somewhat stabilise themselves. But now, the ground was very much close to them, the tall pine trees only metres under their bodies. Hiccup pulled up, prompting Toothless to spread his wings and try to slow their fall. The wind was even more violent now, harshly pulling back the sides of their faces, both of their eyes watering and stinging from that.

  
His stomach flipped again when he saw the tall, looming sea stacks, densely covered with ocean mist. He had to figure out which setting of the tail he had to use, he had to figure it out. Now. But he could only attempt to look at the cheat sheet with one hand, and the turbulence foiled his only plan, forcing the cheat sheet to fold inwards, covering anything helpful.

  
The rocks were too close now.

  
They were going to crash.

  
Toothless shrieked again, and Hiccup had had enough. Enough of relying on sheets of paper, he threw it to the wind, allowing the mist to swallow it whole. With nothing but his instincts and the feeling of Toothless between his legs, Hiccup steered Toothless’ tail, the dragon immediately sensing his rider’s lack of hesitation. Together, as one, they weaved through the treacherous slalom course of rocks. Flipping, turning, they could feel the other just as well as they could feel themselves. Their hearts beat in unison, only their instincts driving them forward.  
At last, they made it out, bursting through the misty sea stacks and back out into the open air. Euphoria flooded their senses and Hiccup threw his arms into the air in celebration.

  
“YEAHH!” He yelled, laughing at Toothless’ squeal of delight.

  
Unfortunately, dragon’s have rather odd ways of celebrating near-death experiences, as Toothless immediately released a fireball, and as the wave of flame approached them Hiccup’s glee turned into dread.

  
“Oh, come on…”

  
-

  
Later on, Hiccup blinked rapidly, trying to ignore his burnt of eyelashes and singed hair. His once brown hair that flopped in front of his face was now charred black and burnt backwards, he couldn’t bring himself to complain though. The feeling of Toothless at his back, and the lingering euphoria from their earlier near-death experience making Hiccup too giddy to actually be upset. He winced at the regurgitating sounds from the dragon at his back, and sure enough, when he turned Toothless had basically thrown up a fish head.

  
While he appreciated the gesture…

  
“Uh- no, thanks,” Hiccup said with only a little bit of forced politeness, gesturing to the fish that was cooking over the fire, “I’m good.”

  
Toothless had funny ways of showing he cared, but Hiccup couldn’t stop the flash of fondness from swallowing his heart.  
Before he could contemplate or do anything else, Hiccup glanced up at the sounds of dragon squawking.

  
Terrible Terrors.

  
A flock of them.

  
Hiccup glanced back as Toothless growled and he hoped there would be no trouble. He had made friend’s with Toothless, but that didn’t mean he could make friends with all the other dragons too. The tiny dragons chirped as they crept closer, drawn in by the smell of a possible meal. As possessive of his things as ever, Toothless snapped at a Terror that got too close to his fish pile.

  
They both stared as a small green terror nabbed at the fish head that was meant for Hiccup and the boy placed a calming hand on the flank of his dragon. That was probably the only reason why the Terrible Terrors weren’t charcoal by now. Hiccup watched curiously as another dragon tried to nip at the fish head, only to be chased away by the green one with a small burst of fire.

  
The Night Fury was extremely unimpressed with the display, turning back to his fish pile with intrigue as a random fish suddenly stood on its tail and started hopping out. But then the intrigue turned into annoyance as he realised it was those thieving rats here to steal his food, Toothless immediately snapped down on the fish, yanking it away from the Terror and swallowing it whole. He released a taunting chuckle, which probably sounded more like a shaky hum to humans. Not really happy with being only left with a bit of fishtail, the Terror spat it out and readied up to assert its dominance. Which predictably went awful. When a familiar gas hiss filled the air, Hiccup prepared to be burnt again, only to be surprised when Toothless shot a small fireball into the dragon’s open maw. The gas immediately backfired on the little dragon, causing it to puff up for a moment and for smoke to pour out of its body.

  
“Huh. Not so fireproof on the inside, are you?” chuckling at the staggering Terror and his smug friend, Hiccup tossed a small fish to the Terror, “Here ya go.”

  
Immediately perking up at the offer of food, the Terrible Terror gulped the fish down, purring as she cautiously approached the kind human that had fed her. When she wasn’t attacked or shouted at, she curled up beneath the human’s arm, panting off the slight internal bruises the Night Fury had given her.

  
Watching in wonder as he stroked down the small dragon’s back, Hiccup couldn’t help but be filled with guilt at the satisfied purrs, “Everything we know about you guys…is wrong.”

  
Toothless silently huffed, unhappy that his Hiccup was touching another dragon. But, he also knew that this was another new thing for Hiccup to learn. He couldn’t place his claw on it, but Toothless could tell that his human was special, his human could change the world. And despite the Queen’s insistence on everything staying the same, he couldn’t help but be excited for what that change would bring.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed that! This is a bit on the shorter side since again, I kind of struggled with this chapter and I'm eager to move onto the next one. 
> 
> Oh yes, I really recommend you guys subscribe or follow or whatever the series instead of just this fic since I've posted a one-shot thing that's based on this AU.
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/17998025/chapters/42517856
> 
> This book ^^^^ is basically going to be a series of one-shots based on when the dragon riders move to Dragon's Edge. Some of them are going to be based off actual episodes, some are going to be requests or random drabbles that pop into my mind. If you'd like to see a scene or something feel free to pop into that link and leave your request there, I don't make any promises that I'll take it cause inspiration is hard to find but there's a 99% chance I'll guilt trip myself into writing for it. 
> 
> Social Media:  
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> 
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> 
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End file.
